Rec center construction work underway this week

Construction work to upgrade the North Olmsted Recreation Center is scheduled to be finished late this year or in early 2015, officials said.

“It’s an exciting time for the city

of North Olmsted,” Mayor Kevin Kennedy said. “I know there has been a lot of interest in what’s going on out there and when the changes will be taking place.”

Demolition and construction work on the major changes got underway this week.

Chris Wetmore, assistant recreation commissioner for North Olmsted, said the project was awarded to Lauren Building Co. of Chagrin Falls for a winning base bid of $1,424,800. The new rink locker room, the new meeting room in the pool lobby and use of another type of flooring were three alternates in the bid that the city did accept, which brought the total project cost to $1,522,800.

Kennedy said there will be multiple benefits for the city from an upgraded recreation center.

“People have expressed interest to us in the city for a number of years to find some way to get more fitness-related facilities into the recreation center or somewhere in the city so they didn’t have to go to another city,” he said. “And even if people don’t use the fitness area themselves, it still will help them. Having an upgraded fitness center will increase interest in the city and help upgrade property values because it’s something else good that we’ll have in North Olmsted. It also will help draw more people into the city, which is always good for businesses when you have people going somewhere, because they’ll often shop or do other things while they’re out.”

Lou Brossard, chairman of City Council’s Parks and Recreation Committee, also is pleased to see the work on the center continuing to move forward.

“It’s something I know there is interest in in the community,” he said. “I know I’ve heard about it from a lot of residents who are interested in being able to use it.”

Scheduled improvements include:

• A new fitness center with cardio and selectorized weight equipment will be on the second floor of the facility.

• The existing pool locker rooms will be gutted, and wet and dry restrooms as well as new showers and lockers will be installed.

• The front entrance will be redesigned to a make for a more welcoming experience.

A new aerobics room will be created in the place of the existing front desk.

• A current meeting room will be redesigned into a tot room.

• A new meeting room will be created in the pool lobby.

• A party room will be created on the deck of the pool.

• Three new family change rooms will be created with restrooms, showers and sinks.

• An existing storage room will be redesigned with a new entrance.

• An existing storage room and two restrooms will be redesigned into showers and locker rooms for the rink area.

• A new restroom will be created for the administrative office.

• A new skate rental will also be created.

• A new sound system will be installed throughout the entire building.